TOMORROW, November 16, is the United Nations (UN) National Day for Tolerance.
That word. We need it a lot.
Just the other day, Presidential Communications Office Secretary Martin Andanar said that authorities will exercise maximum tolerance to those who may stage protest actions against the burial of the past dictator and late President Ferdinand Marcos.
"Yung policy po pagdating sa protesta, maximum tolerance pa rin. Papabayaan sila mag-protesta kahit saan nila gusto," he said over dzRB Radyong Bayan. "We are a democratic country. We have freedom of speech. We have the freedom to assemble and to express our views and opinions."
President Rodrigo Duterte himself said that some time ago. Even as mayor of Davao City, he has allowed protests for as long as inconvenience to those who are not part of the protest are minimized.
Apparently, that's what he wants still as Andanar said that protesters should at least not hamper traffic flow, especially in Metro Manila.
"Marami po namang mga free, wide spaces that can be used for these demonstrations or these protests," he said.
Meanwhile, the social media is busy about alleged heightened attacks by US President-elect Donald Trump supporters on non-white people. Whether this is really widespread or not, social media would tend to make us believe that it is.
Thus, the need to highlight the celebration tomorrow as the world becomes more and more polarized, many over matters that should have long been attended to, but merely swept under the rug in the hope that such manifestation of intolerance might just go away. Of course, it never does, and because these manifestations are left to fester, once they are allowed out, they are more malevolant than when they were fist swept under.
In declaring this day in 1996, the UN aimed to strengthen tolerance by fostering mutual understanding among cultures and people.
We cannot help but wonder what is the UN's stand now about the US. But of greater concern for us is how we, as a people, continue to preach and nurture peace as only Mindanaoans can best understand. No one wins in any war and conflict and only a continuous discussion about peace and tolerance to the broadest mass as possible can ever open the minds of people who have long held grudges and biases, many times from snippets of stories passed down from generation to generation.
As the UN Declaration itself points out, "tolerance is the sound foundation of any civil society and of peace."